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Saturday, January 31, 2015

So this month started out stressful. Everyone was cramming for exams, teachers were scaring the crap out of us. I wish I could say that it was the usual. It wasn't. I'm in grade 9, or my first year of high school. I had all these questions about exams and now that I've done them, I can say that I've learned a lot.

First, teachers will try to scare you. All my teachers told me how much I needed to study. And I was going to do it! But my parents told me to take it easy; that I can't cram 3 months of information into my mind in two weeks. Either I knew the material or I didn't. Thankfully, I walked into that exam room with minimal studying and my grades are looking pretty great. My gym mark's a 90, French is a 95, Math is a 95 and English is an 85. But English at my school is hardcore. We had to write a full two-paged [legal paper] monologue in estimated twenty minutes as part of the exam.

I also was able to volunteer at my middle school. I helped out in the library and in my grade seven classroom. Got around fifteen hours towards the forty hours that I need to graduate! Whoo!

Lastly, yesterday, I started second semester and it's so weird because it feels like the first day of school again. My entire schedule got messed, which is so annoying. My first teacher sucks so much but the geography teacher I was supposed to have [that I hate] got swapped with another, so it isn't all bad. Also, I didn't think this would happen, but I LOVE my religion class. The teacher seems so chill and all of my friends are in that class. I guess there's always good in the bad and bad in the good.

Review

This month was great for review copies! I didn't think I'd be getting anything at all because I'd been gone so long. I guess publisher contacts don't expire! I sent out a bunch of emails and got confirmations but since the books I requested are coming out in 5-6 months, the delivery will have to wait. Instead these were the lovely books I was so lucky to get.

Thank you Scholastic for The Sin Eater's Daughter and The Dogs.
Raincoast contacted me asking of I would mind reviewing Fairest and I jumped for the chance. Thanks for the finished copy, guys!
Then I got this awesome pack of three ARCs from Penguin. Thanks so much, guys. I'll definitely enjoy reading A Book Of Spirit of Thieves, Like it Never Happened and Survive the Night.
I was also pretty lucky on Netgalley. I was able to score copies of Seeker and When Reason Breaks. I'm probably going to DNF Seeker [oh my God, I don't think I can take this much longer!] but When Reason Breaks was decent.
Lastly, I went on Edelweiss to see some new Harper ARCs so I managed to snag Crash! For those who have seen the reviews, I didn't really love the first two books in the series, but I'm definitely excited to try the last one!

Library

A lot of schools have libraries, right?
That's like a normal thing. However my school doesn't have its own
library. We're right beside the public library. This means a huge
selection of books, including YA. It also means awesome WiFi, but that
isn't the point.

Anyway, I haven't really been using the library, since I'd only really started blogging this January. So now I'm proud to declare that I've taken out five books from the Library since January [which is a big deal for me!]

Honestly, January has been such a great month and I'm so excited for 2015. I'm currently fifteen books ahead of schedule on my Goodreads challenge [which is 50 books!] I'm also preparing for a chance to fix up all my old posts. That's going to take a while. In any case, I'm excited for the new things to come and for all the awesome people whose blogs I now follow and for the people who have started commenting on my blog too! You guys are making me feel so loved. I appreciate it so much.

Also, I typically comment on blogs back. And I've never seen you on my blog before, so I'll just give you the benefit of the doubt but I really hate when people leave links advertising on my blog. I really don't mind checking it out but please don't advertise your blog in my comments. Thank you.

Wow, what a productive month you had! Compared to mine, where I only came back to blogging at the end of January :( And I got my first request of the year on NetGalley declined, which was just plain awful. Anyway, my posts so far have been quite popular so I'll take it as a good sign! Thanks for always supporting me, Nova!!

And in case you were interested ;) Here's the link to my first discussion post: http://girlinthewoodsreviews.blogspot.com/2015/01/book-hangovers-yay-or-nay.html?m=1

Also, I just want to give you the same type of comment. I don't ever mind checking peoples' posts out, but I REALLY hate links in my comments [unless it's meme specific.] because it looks like you're advertising on my blog. If you want me to check out your post, please send a DM next time! [I was actually going to check it out anyway]

I just finished my exams for semester 1, which really stressed me out since I had really detailed subjects this semester like math and history. I'm so happy it's over! I don't know how we can all possibly find time to read through all this! I feel like bloggers should get a reprieve haha!

We got a lot of books that are the same! I also got Fairest from Raincoast, and The Dogs and The Sin Eater's Daughter from Scholastic. I guess you're Canadian too? And ugh, for exams. Thankfully everything turned out well!

I read The Sin Eater's Daughter and I really liked it. And Like It Never Happened!! I WANT! :D And yay for finishing exams! That's always an awesome feeling. Happy reading, Nova! Enjoy all those fabulous books. :D

Sounds like a good month! Well, apart from exams. That English one is just evil. Volunteering would be fun, I just don't know where I'd go if I wanted to. How do you survive not going to the library?!? I practically live there. Hope you enjoy all your books :-)Thanks for visiting Addlepates and Book Nerds! :-)

I am glad you've had such a great month! In my experience teachers LOVE the whole "stress out the student" thing, but I've found that the more work they claim I'd have, the less I actually did ;) Hope the same is true for you!

Also, just DNF Seeker! I beg you. I made myself finish it, and now I am even more confused, AND I want to read the next book for some inexplicable reason! I think I am so mad that I have no answers haha.

Glad you got so many wonderful books too! Hope you enjoy them all, and hope that February treats you just as well :) Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight

Wow, I don't think I could do the paper writing time limit thing, I hate situations with that kind of pressure. Glad you are doing well overall though! It's funny because I remember my first year of high school actually being the hardest but then it got super laid back (trying to make the point it gets easier and somewhat failing) :P

Great haul! I really liked Welcome to the Dark House and Dorothy Must Die. Wow, I've been out of school for a while and it sure seems like there's a lot more for you to worry about these days! Good luck! Thanks for stopping by Michelle's Minions! Enjoy your books and happy reading!

Awk, that English exam sounds crazy hard. 0.0 I homeschooled so never did exams and I'm soo relieved. I think I would died under the pressure. Not even kidding. *sigh* BUT YAY FOR THE SIN EATER'S DAUGHTER. I really really want to try that one and I'm already hearing impressively good things for it.

Ah! Lovely haul! I didn't like The Sin Eater's Daughter (I think I saw that you didn't as well, in Ashley's review), but I LOVED Rush/Push - and I finally have Crash! I hope you enjoy all of your new books!

Girl, I had no idea you were in 9th grade. I was thinking you were older! You carry yourself well. :) It's true what they say - high school is the best time of your life, so enjoy it. There won't ever be another four years like it. I hope you have a fabulous reading month in February! I plan on reading Eve Silver's trilogy when Crash comes out. :D

Congrats on getting through the semester and getting high marks! Finals week can be so stressful. It's awesome that your school is right next to the library. The library is my favorite place. I just love walking through the stacks of books. I really enjoyed Burn for Burn and Ashes for Ashes. I actually need to finish the series, though.

Share your thoughts! I'm always looking for insight from other readers because hey - your opinion matters! Also, if no one's told you yet, I just want to say that I love your smile and that you should grace all of us with it.

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About Me

nova lee zaiden has spent five years in prison for hacking the pentagon. she's discovered top government secrets and the knowledge could kill her. after escaping, she now hides undercover at local high school in hopes of survival.
if all goes well, she leaves unscathed. if not, she and the cute boy in her math class will have to go on the run. it doesn't help that said boy is the son of the man who wants her dead. they'll have to fight against all odds to expose shocking secrets while resisting their own fatal attraction...
however, since nothing like that has happened yet, you can find nova in her room reading YA books, drinking tea and writing about her fangirl feels.